Death, Love, and the God Who Weeps for His People

Jesus Wept.
The shortest verse in the Bible, but I’m only beginning to understand the breadth of it.

It was after the death of his friend Lazarus; he waited to return to help him until the man had been dead for four days. When he arrived Mary was crying, everyone was distraught, everyone was mad at Jesus, because they knew he could have helped. Jesus asked to see the body, then breaks down.
The Savior of the universe, Son of GOD, breaks down and cries.
Why?
He was about to heal Lazarus, why would he cry, why not laugh, berate them for their doubt, and then call the man up out of his grave. It would have been a big glorious show of the power of God, but Jesus contrasted with all those possibilities by breaking down into tears. I’m so hung up on this… why?
Oh the… humanity?

The humanity of Jesus is something that is most widely discussed in something like the DaVinci Code where he is portrayed as impregnating Mary etc. etc. excuse me while I puke.

Jesus was fully man and fully God. Ok, that makes no sense so don’t preach to me that crap without explaining what it means. (Can you tell I’m in Church all the time?)

Jesus was human, like you and I. He had the same weaknesses, the same mind, and the same heart, just like us. He was tempted, he was hurt, he laughed, he cried, he bled, he got hungry and he even had to pee. He had to control his thoughts and emotions just like we are… supposed to. What made Jesus capable of that?
He had the same promise we do, he was just more aware of it, because he was the Son of God.
He was the embodiment of the conscience that drives you and I toward the truth.
He was (is) a man, but he was the walking example of how scripture was supposed to be lived.
That’s why Jesus is so amazing; he was just like us, but without the willingness to compromise that messes us up every time.

And so he wept, he could carry the weight of his calling anymore without cracking just a little. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for him to stay away those extra days. It must have torn him apart, then he gets there to see Mary so broken, his friend gone, his alleged friends berating him for not doing what he “should have done.” He couldn’t carry that burden, that… cross… anymore.

This changes my entire perspective on the man Jesus; he isn’t just the example of perfection that I’ll never reach. He was a broken man who went by each day giving his best with a determination unrivaled, because he loved those broken souls around him that much.
All for love.

He wept because he loved his people so much that their despair broke him, even though he could fix it, he knew the cost.

Even then, he knew the cost.

This blog is so incomplete that I did not want to post it, but here are my thoughts so far. :-)
Psalm 27:8
-Israel

Contradictions, The Soul, and Reason Versus Emotion

Lately God has laid on my heart my non-existent understanding of the human psyche in relation to making decision based on emotions or reason. To simplify this, to make a decision based on reason is done with the mind through logic and reason by fact; even if you’re going on faith you can make a decision by reason. But then again, faith is partially an emotion. And there’s the conundrum, you cannot make a decision solely by reason, but if you make a decision solely by emotion you will be lead astray. “The heart is deceitful above all things,” says the prophet Jeremiah. So there must be a median ground that we can all rely on to make decision that will hold up to the mind’s God has given us while still not ignoring the emotions that God has given us as well. I understanding that understanding will come with age and wisdom but I am a logical person so it helps to write it out.
I am also a very passionate person; do you see my world of contradictions?

That’s really as far as I’ve gotten in my understanding of this, I find myself contradicting myself at every turn and I feel… I feel, so am I writing this blog with emotion or with reason or with a strange combination of both that I cannot identify nor understand?
Can you tell I’m enjoying this? ☺
The way I see it, a persons soul is their most valuable possession. You can understand why, our bodies and our things pass away, but our soul is us forever. I believe the heart is the greatest part of the soul. The soul is composed of our passions, the things that mean the most to us. Wouldn’t you agree that a person is not passionate is… empty?

You cannot make a decision solely on reason; you have to use an emotion to block out your other emotions. You are designed to use both.
Jesus prayed in the garden for God not to make him die on the cross, that was emotion.
But he also prayed “not my will but yours” that was reason. Emotion played it’s part in both, but if reason had not played a part then Jesus would not have done it, because he was as much a human as you or I.
He knocked over tables. That was emotion, but it was done with the intention to make a point and it did not cross a line.

Emotion caused the fall of humanity. The woman let her heart control her and the man just stood there with no control at all. That sounds familiar doesn’t it?

So as you can see Biblically that both play a part, and the test I will use on myself is very simple and I’m disappointed in myself that I did not get to this point earlier.

If you are making a decision that feels like emotion and you are not sure your mind is getting through, ask yourself if this decision glorifies God.
Will it bring you closer to him?
Will it bring others closer to him?

Guard your heart; be aware of the thoughts of your mind and the meditations of your heart.
God gave you both for a reason, use both of them, be aware of where God is calling you to be and you will not make the mistake of Adam and Eve.
Psalm 19:11
Psalm 86:11
-Jason

P.S Thanks to Daniel Chandler for helping me write this blog. He's the man. And he needs a girlfriend.